ROI Recruiting

ARRA HITECH Impact on HIT Hiring

2009-07-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

There are some signs the slowdown in HIT hiring the first half of this year may be coming to an end. July 1, the official start of the 2nd half, seems like an appropriate time to be finally making note of some improvement.

The first half has been kind of ironic; 2008 was a boom year, and with all the hoopla around ARRA, HITECH, EMR stimulus, etc, we've been expecting things to take off again, the question has been when.

We're seeing some signs of increased activity with our clients, not huge, but across a number of them, which is hopeful. We expected the initial increase to be in needs for resources to help with research and planning around EMR's, not the typical upgrade and rollout resources that are typically in such high demand, and this appears to be bearing out. It may yet take a while for the increase in EMR applications professionals to rebound completely, but it appears it's coming. And with the tight deadlines to receive the complete funds, we don't expect it to take long to ramp up.

Hang in there.

10 Signs Your Interview Went Well

2009-07-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

10-Signs-Your-Interview-Went-Well

Cover Letters

2009-05-20T11:29:00.001-07:00

The following is a copy of my response to a query on Linked In. Thought it was useful to repeat here:

I generally skip the cover letter and skim the resume first to see if the candidate's background is relevant to the position at hand. Most aren't, and most cover letters are over lengthy, rehash of the resume and provide nothing useful in addition. I may go back to it and skim if the person's background is of interest and the cover appears to offer anything useful. Most cover letters' impact, if any, is negative, in that it turns out to be generic, or references the wrong title, (they forgot to change a generic letter to reference the correct position), contains typos, or as noted by others, demonstrates poor writing ability (the resume may or may not have been written by the candidate). It is a rare cover letter that is well written, brief, addresses the position at hand and provides any useful information to the subject at hand.

As an aside, with resume databases and the passing around of info, it is generally advisable to include all pertinent info in one document, as emails and cover letters and resumes may get separated by scanning applications, and handlers. Always include all contact info in the resume. It's also advisable to include your cover/objective info in the resume as well to keep from getting separated.

ARRA Math

2009-05-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

EMR's are big projects. Implementation projects in general and enterprise projects in particular, are usually going to follow a process that goes something like this:

Start to think about needing something new
Begin looking at options
Formalize a more specific group to begin evaluating needs and products
Develop list of potential applications
Investigate
Short list
Demos
Negotiations/Selection or Selection/Negotiation
Form project team
Develop project plans
Hire additional resources
Execute project plans (often in phases)
Remediate issues
Repeat
Stabilize/upgrades
Ongoing support

In order to qualify for the full monies in the ARRA, facilities need to have a 'meaningful use' EMR up and running in less than 2 years.

The above list of activities will easily take 2 years (actually longer) for any decent sized medical group.

Ergo, if you are not already well underway on this list, you've already missed the boat. Which means those that have been working on EMR deployment plans have a chance to get some additional money. Those that haven't been, will have to be extremely aggressive to get it done in time to obtain all the potential funds available.

The Unemployment Paradox

2009-03-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

Since Jan. 1, it's been quite evident that the slowdown has hit, even in HIT (Healthcare Information Technology). Although evidently not as bad as elsewhere, hiring has slowed down in the HIT sector, though that might reverse itself abruptly later this year or next, if the healthcare technology spending package proceeds.

One of the ironies of the current market is that in spite of the significantly greater number of candidates that seem to be available recently, filling perm positions is as difficult, if not more difficult, than previously.

Several factors seem to be contributing to this:

1) Many of the new candidates are consultants and contractors who have been benched or cut loose from their assignments or firms and are, at least initially, still looking primarily for new consulting or contract roles. This can change over time, and I've seen a few cases already, of those folks looking for the security of a full-time facility based position and willing to give up some of their income expectations in return.

2) Those candidates who have been downsized from perm facilities roles, have generally expressed a desire to stay put, and find another local position. Again, these attitudes can change over time as it sometimes takes a while for the realization to kick in that they might have to adjust their expectations or face a very long job search. At the moment we're only 3-6 months into the downturn, and the majority of the candidates have only been on the market since Jan. 1 or later.

The above 2 factors are pretty much standard, and we run into them in every market; consultants generally want to be consultants - travel, but not move. And perm employees want to stay put and not move or travel.

A couple of new factors:

3) The housing market; those that might be considering a move are understandably dubious about their ability to sell their house even if they find a new opportunity and location they like. No one wants to be faced with the financial burden of unintentionally carrying two homes for an extended period.

4) Maybe the least obvious; the psychology has changed. In an upbeat market, people are more confident in general, which promotes more of risk-taking mentality. They are confident of being able to sell their home, and perhaps even more importantly, they don't see taking a new position as being as high of a risk as they do now. If someone takes a new position now, moves to a new location, buys a new house (even if they sell their old one), if they end up not liking the new job, new location, whatever, they perceive their ability to up and move again, and find another new job to be much lower. They may be stuck there.

Why am I sharing this? It may seem counter-productive for a recruiter to be acknowledging the challenges. My point is that it makes it all the more important for the recruiter to work harder, dig deeper, and find the right candidates with right motivations. Recruiting passive candidates has gotten much more difficult recently; the new opportunity now has to be even more of an opportunity than before. Frankly, I also think the focus has shifted more from a focus on the job (money, position, growth, etc) to stability, security, lifestyle, family.

Right now I'm still trying to find those who really want to move. The realization for some that they have to move is going to come soon, and we will find ourselves spending more time working with those motivated by necessity than dreams, before much longer.

Something to Put a Smile On When Times are Tough

2009-03-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Consultant Blues (read with a blues tempo; tears optional)

You know, I have a job coming up but still
Still I have these consultant blues
Each day just goes by, goes-by without good news
No news about, about a new position to fill
I have no news, no news to bring me a thrill

Kerri is looking for somebody
But they don't sound anything like me
I say, Kerri is looking for somebody
But they don't sound anything like me
I got just one certification
And Kerri's askin for three

Everytime I see your name on my computer
I believe in hope of work lord once again
These here consultant blues done got a whole of me
When will my unemployment (checks) and troubles end

In the mornin when I rise, I look for a sign from up above
My situation is shacky baby, no recruiter textin me - no mo recruiter love
Just a hopin maybe., just a one day maybe
A Kerri-mail will unbind me, and set me free just like a dove

Credit: B.Copeland

That's someone we'd like to find a job.

Playing it Straight With Recruiters

2009-02-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

I tend to blog the most when a hot topic crosses my mind. Usually, it seems like when someone has annoyed me. Another case in point today I suppose.

FYI, the ROI blog is intended to be down and dirty and informative. Not just the usual PR pander. I'm not sure if everyone will appreciate my style, but the great thing about blogging, is you don't need everyone else's approval.

Some of this may be re-hash of other posts, but here goes:

People, if you are going to work with recruiters, make sure you understand how it works. And Recruiters! Make sure you tell people. Some people will still lie to you, but at least with a better informed population, the stupid mistakes will diminish!

Recruiters come in several flavors: company, 3rd party retained and 3rd party contigency. Company = company HR, 3rd party (like ROI) work for companies as vendors. Retained means the recruiter gets paid for working on the search. Contingency means only if they fill it.

We're going to focus on contingency today, since the majority of 3rd party work is contingency. ROI does both, but more contingency than retained.

Candidates, if you are going to work with a 3rd party recruiter to try and have them help you find a position, it does you absolutely no good not to tell them about any prior applications, interviews, or communications with a company. Getting the recruiter to submit you again is going to: make you look like a cheap commodity at best, or possibly dishonest or stupid. It's going to waste the recruiters time and make them look bad to the client. Most companies will not pay a recruiter for a referral of someone they have received a resume from in the last 12 months.

Candidates like to 'forget' they had any prior contact with a firm, even if they had an on-site interview 2 weeks ago! I can ask outright, and many will lie. Others simply forget to mention.

I'll let you in on a little secret: If you get me to refer you without telling me you already have been, and the client then tells me, several things happen: I have no motivation to get you hired because I won't get paid. If you lied to me, I'll tell the client you did. And even if you didn't, it's not in my interests to have you get hired, because I don't get paid, and the position is then closed and I don't have another opportunity to find someone else. Do you really want someone talking to the client about you that knows your background in detail and DOESN'T want you to get hired?

Addendum:

To be clear: I don't believe in trashing people, regardless of how much they've annoyed me. It just doesn't pay. However the thing to keep in mind in this business is that a mediocre comment or endorsement, or a complete lack of endorsement may be far worse than a trashing. If you trash someone, you come across like someone with an axe to grind. If you simply don't have anything positive to say about someone, that tends to speak volumes. Candidates, you only want your strongest advocates talking to people about you. And this includes recruiters, and references.

An example: Since candidates provide references, it makes sense that those people would provide glowing reports right? You'd be surprised. Some haven't even given their ok to be references, some trash the candidate, some give very lukewarm feedback. If these are your strongest advocates, and they only give you a B/C rating, what does that tell people? Keep in mind with grade inflation in everything these days, C=E in my book. Failing. When I'm talking to references, I focus pretty heavily on what they don't say and what they don't stress as superlatives: areas they don't mention as strengths, areas they mention as "OK", etc.

You better be sure both your recruiter and references are talking about you in glowing terms. Especially in the market right now. Being straight with your recruiter is a good start.

By the way, if you don't feel like being straight with your recruiter, why are you talking to them in the first place? Do your own job search, or find another recruiter.

Selecting an ATS System

2009-01-14T11:54:00.000-08:00

Saw a great post today on selecting an ATS system.

Most discussions around this tend to focus on various tactical aspects - functionality, access, etc.

This note points out that the KEY to starting an ATS selection process, or any software selection process, is understanding your business and requirements before you start. Most software implementations fail, and a good percentage of them fail before they ever start for the same reason: If you don't know what you should be getting, then how do you make a good choice? Most business people proceed assuming they know the answer, and they don't:

http://tinyurl.com/7ev4jt

Reminds me of people selling their gas guzzling SUV's for a $20k hit to save $500 a year on gas.

Mozy Computer Data Back-up

2009-01-09T05:35:00.001-08:00

Here's another great tool to check out:

www.mozy.com

This is a great free data backup tool that you install on your computer and will store around 2GB of data free. You can pay to receive more storage space, or get additional space by inviting friends.

Works in the background on a schedule you set, and is very configurable to store the data you want, and not the data you don't.

Password Safe

2009-01-09T05:33:00.001-08:00

Here's some info on something I use.

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

This is a great secure tool for storing your ID's and passwords, instead of using post-its or recipe cards. It also randomly generates passwords for you to use.

Works great for someone on a single computer.

A bit more complicated for someone with several computers, because it stores an encrypted database on your computer, but if you have more than one computer you use, you would have to keep the databases synced up, or you could install the program on each computer and carry the database on a USB key.

I have dozens of sites, ID's and passwords for both business and personal stuff and keeping track of it all is a real challenge. In addition to the encryption protection, having a simple way to create and stores ID's and passwords makes them easier to keep track of, and provides less reason to re-use the same ones over and over, which is a security risk.

Changing Market Conditions - Stand Out from the Crowd

2009-01-09T04:45:00.001-08:00

Deteriorating economic conditions are impacting the healthcare technology space as well as the rest of the economy.

In my experience, HIT has been a consistently strong arena regarless of current economic conditions (2002-2003 for example). However, the current environment is starting to appear to be an exception, and some slowdown in spending by healthcare faclities is evident due to decreases in revenue due to more visits by economically distressed patients with challenges in paying, as well as funding challanges, continuing government reimbursement decreases and related factors.

While HIT is still much stronger than many areas of the economy, we're seeing more of an influx of resumes and candidates than we've seen in a while, longer time on bench for consultants and longer job search cycles.

In order to stand out from the crowd and make yourself a real 'recruiter pleaser candidate', help yourself out do the following:

Contact the recruiters you know periodically, but not incessantly, every 3-4 weeks, unless you're working on something. DO NOT constantly apply to positions or apply to multiple positions at the same time from the same firm.

When you DO apply, make sure your cover letter outlines your parameters; are you looking for perm? w2? 1099? long term? short term? do you need benefits, can you travel weekly? only east coast? spell it out and don't waste your and their time.

Keep records of where you apply, for what, and who you've talked to.

HealthCare IT Spending Survey Report December2008

2008-12-11T06:02:00.000-08:00

Link to Healthcare IT spending report survey results, December 2008.

Lying Out Loud, for Crying Out Loud

2008-11-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

One of the necessary evils of this business is occasionally dealing with people who lie.

The amusing, or maybe bemusing, part, is that many of them do a really poor job of it.

I run across resumes several times a year from people who I've seen resumes from before, who have gone to work for a new company, and been fired or laid off in a short period, and who subsequently delete that company from their resume after having listed it before. Sometimes they'll adjust the dates of the preceding and subsequent positions to cover up the gap.

People do this on their Linked In profiles sometimes too. I guess these folks figure others have such short memories that they'll never notice. Perhaps they forget that technology these days stores emails, files, etc, like Google cache, or selecting the 'show all dates' parameter in a resume database that you can frequently recall info from a year or two back quite easily.

Not to mention that your references, and colleagues, will frequently mention that they knew you at 'Company A', then you went to 'Company B', and now you're at 'Company C'. But 'Company B' appears nowhere on your resume?

Remember: "Tell the truth, it's easier to remember".

Worth: What Are You Worth?

2008-10-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

Boy, that's a loaded question.

One could write volumes; actually many volumes have already been written about a person's worth, value of a human life, achieving one's ambitions and all sorts of variations on these topics.

But I want to focus on a more objective answer to the question, not the subjective. Because it comes up all the time: candidates are always making the comment that "I feel I'm worth X dollars" etc, or "I'm worth more than I'm making".

In economics I remember the discussions around the 4 P's of pricing, product, promotion and place. The concept applies to the "price" (or value) of a person or employee, in economic terms.

Just like a glass of water might be free, or worth nothing, from a city water fountain, and worth a man's life savings if he's dying of thirst in a desert, a person's worth varies according to place, time, circumstances, etc.

What I'm saying is that the candidate comments about being worth more, etc are nonsense, or rather sort of irrelevant. We're all worth more or less depending on the situation, but in career terms, you are worth what you are making right now. You might make more later, or less later. But right now, you are worth what you are being paid, because you have accepted that situation. If you haven't found someone else to pay you more for something you'd accept doing, then you are worth what you are getting.

It's not hypothetical question. If you find another job and are there making more, you are now worth more. If you are fired a month later, you are now worth zero for the moment. If you can't find anyone to pay you what you think you are worth, go into business for yourself and see if you can make what you think you are worth.

Everyone tends to view their worth in terms of some sort of imaginary perfect world scenario. For that matter we tend to view the worth of our tangible possessions that way also. We tend to think our houses are worth more than the agent does (we don't see the dirty carpet, walls that need painting, etc., we just know what another bigger nicer house in the neighborhood sold for $100k more than what the agent is telling us to list ours for). Same with used cars; we usually set the price based on excellent or near excellent condition, but eventually end up selling for something less... usually.

Just because you made $150k a few years ago during the boom, and got stock options, etc, while you were working 70 hours a week and traveling 3-4 days/week, doesn't mean you are worth that when you've moved from San Francisco to Memphis and now have 2 small kids, want to work 9-5 and be home in the evening.

Just because someone else with a somewhat similar background is making $40k more than you doesn't mean you are worth the same.

Our expectations tend to rise easily, and adjust downward slowly. Which is a good thing in some ways since it means we tend to constantly strive for more, which is really the basis of our entire economy. Just don't let an unrealistic view stand in the way of a good new situation, or satisfaction with one you already have.

On the other hand, if you sincerely believe you should be making more, then find another situation and prove it. That's what recruiters are here to help you do. But recruiters will be very selective about the use of their time. We pay close attention to what WE think you're worth in the marketplace.

And another thing; be cautious of squeezing every last dollar of compensation out of every place you go. That's fine if you deliver more than the boss expects on a regular basis, because then you've got additional growth potential. But if you're getting pretty much the max that your worth, and the max that you can get, someone else who is delivering more for the money is more likely to be kept around when times get tough and the boss starts looking for places to make cuts.

Should Referrers Expect a Fee for Referrals?

2008-09-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

To answer the question, ask yourself the following:

If you were someone looking for a job, and your friend would refuse to refer you for a good opportunity unless he/she was paid, is that person really a friend?

If you wish to be paid, does that mean in the future, if there was a great new opportunity for you, would you be happy not being referred for it if your friend/contact was not offered a fee?

If you are a recruiter, do you think someone who is referrring people to you for money is going to be as honest about how good the people he refers to you are as he would be if he was doing it voluntarily? Might that person refer people that are only 'OK' in hopes of getting a fee? Or maybe even someone who is 'not OK', in the hopes that they might land the job anyway?

How much work is there involved in referring the name, number and email of someone for an opening, vs. the work the recruiter does 40-50 hours/week, month after month, building connections, paying fees, paying for database systems, linked in subscriptions, subscriptions for databases and association fees that run into thousands of dollars, doing reference checks, counseling the candidates and clients, negotiating, scheduling interviews, etc. etc. A referral may take a minute, placing someone can take 3, 6, 9, 12 months of working with a candidate.

Defining Risk

2008-06-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

One of my candidates turned down an offer from our client this past week. The position was remote, and he instead took a position with a local firm, with a lower salary, for a variety of reasons, but the one that seemed to stand out was that he felt more comfortable with a firm close by, a team to work with, and people that he knew. All good reasons for sure. And all the more understandable since he was the in the job market due to a layoff at his prior employer.

I got the impression that it seemed a 'safer' choice to him than the opportunity I presented.

But it got me thinking about risk. For example, people typically view stocks, bonds, commodities, etc as 'riskier' than savings accounts, CD's and other insured deposits. However, financial advisors frequently point out, that there is another type of risk with insured investments, and that is the risk that these 'safe' investments will generate lower returns over time (say 3 or 4% annually), than stocks or bonds, which might generate 5-10%. The risk is that when you retire, you may end up with substantially less with a 'safe' investment, than with a 'risky' one.

The same can be true of career considerations. Taking the safe career path, avoiding the risk of failure, may seem the safer route, certainly more comfortable for many. But after years of looking at resumes, you rarely see executives, business owners, or investors who usually took the 'safe' route. They almost always took risks, took them regularly, and usually made some mistakes along the way. But they typically identified those quickly, made adjustments, and moved on.

In this day of frequent and often surprise corporate acquisitions, divestitures, expansions, contractions, bankruptcies, etc, becoming accustomed to risk and being able to assess it quickly and accurately may be one of the greatest assets a person can have. Seemingly 'safe' choices can turn out not to be, sometimes surprisingly quickly. As with investing, you may find upon retirement that having consistently taken the 'safe' path throughout your career, may not leave you as well off as having taken more risks along the way.

Career Coaching, Career Counseling

2008-03-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of anecdotes came my way recently regarding 2 related subjects. Career Counselors' (as in an academic career counselor) and paid career coaches or job finders.

One came from Linked In: A fellow had apparently been burned by one of these outfits that claimed to have "the secret to the hidden job market". My take on anything related to career search that you as the candidate pay for: No one has the secret to the hidden job market. Only you know what fits you. The most that these places will do is spam your resume' out to a bunch of recruiters and industry contacts, probably ones that they don't know well or at all.

There are cases where you might pay someone for career help; interview coaching, resume' writing, or other discrete tasks, or training on how to do your own search, research, write cover letters, identify prospects. But the less work that you supposedly have to put into it, the less valuable it will be.

The other example came from a network security candidate, a new college graduate. His career counselor at the college cautioned him against pursuing 'too narrow' a field, like network security, and advised him to take a broader curriculum. He then graduated and contacted us about a network security career, and guess what: he didn't have enough studies in the field. He was extremely upset, and rightfully so; I've never met a career counselor that had enough expertise in multiple fields to be making any kind of specific recommendations on a particular career. What they should do, again, is provide guidance on how the student should go about making a decision, the pro's and con's of a broad vs. a narrow curriculum, statistics on growth in particular fields etc. But I would never caution someone with a passion for a particular area to avoid it. Just the opposite; I think the real path to success lies in pursuing your passion, not just 'finding a job'.

Opinions are a dime a dozen, mine included. Your best career resource is going to be you, when you've studied and researched and evaluated numerous opinions of others. Never rely on one person or entity to make decisions for you.

Another note: My impression is that there are plenty of generalists out there. In any field. I frequently see such people struggling with job changes, finding a fit, etc. Top notch people in any field will rarely have trouble finding work, so your goal should be to be one of them. And just make sure that field is not a dinosaur. If you pick one that turns out to be headed that direction, re-train yourself in something related and growing and move on from there. Again, a top notch person will not have much trouble making the transition.

Your Résumé and ATS Systems

2008-03-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

A small tidbit of advice:

Most recruiters and hiring organizations use some sort of ATS (Applicant Tracking System) today for managing and storing applicant résumés.

Some of these tips have been shared in other places, but it's worth a reminder:

Try and keep the formatting fairly simple; too many tables, boxes, graphics and other creative effects to show off your skills, can get either lost completely, or corrupted, sometimes leaving the document unreadable.

Try and minimize graphics that end up bloating the file size.

Name the attachment something useful; not "Résumé", or the modified date, but your preferred job title (e.g., VP IT Services), or something else descriptive. Many of the ATS systems default to the document name for the title of the record when they are imported, and if the recruiter forgets to edit it, you end up in the system under some undecipherable heading.

Identify preferred locations, travel ability, complete address info, and identify phone numbers as office, home, cell etc so the recruiter can document your info properly and quickly. Make sure to include the info on the Résumé since it is probable it will be separated from the email you sent.

Wallowing in Self Pity

2008-03-07T05:05:00.001-08:00

Evidently the economy is slowing down. I've been slow to see it in ROI's business, but am starting to see the signs of frustration in some groups of candidates.

There's always going to be those who do well more or less regardless of the current economy, and those that struggle regardless. I suppose the difference between a good and bad economy is how it affects the majority.

I posted a new position for a fairly junior level opportunity this week, (2-3 years experience) and was amazed at some of the negative emails regarding the salary (right at market level base on Payscale data.

The position was posted to a regional job forum, where a lot of folks hang out looking for work.

One of the dangers I've seen of a job support type group, is that you have a group of people facing some challenges, and who need above all else to maintain a positive frame of mind, some enthusiasm, etc. Yet, there is a strong tendency, that must be fought vigorously, to wallow in self-pity, complain about this, that or the other thing (in this case companies, the economy, outsourcing, government, recruiters, advertising, H1B visas, NAFTA, politicians, executives, or [add endlesslessly to list here ____].

I've had a number of occasions where I've had an opportunity in an arena where perhaps there aren't many jobs, but with an employer who wants to find a certain someone, etc. And I run across someone. But their cover letter conveys a certain frustration or resentment, or it doesn't, but it comes across when we speak on the phone. So I move on. And they've completed the vicious circle once again, not recognizing that they are the ones once again responsible for their situation.

The last thing I'll do is present someone to a client, that comes across as bitter, or unenthusiastic, or resigned, or whatever. These people need to stay positive and focused, and they need to cull anyone from their circle that doesn't help them do that. Having others telling them they're being 'preyed upon' or 'undervalued' or whatever, is NOT helpful.

No one on this earth is guarenteed a long life, or prosperity, or career satisfaction. You have to work for it. And no other person or company or government is responsible for giving it to you. You have to either find it or create it yourself.

If your situation isn't to your liking, either change it, or shut up and live with it. It's no one else's responsibility to do it for you.

"Poker Tells", Recruiting & Life

2008-02-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

It's funny how a topic can seem to surface repeatedly in a fairly short period of time.

The subject of 'tells', like a poker tell, or behavior that serves as an indicator to others, has popped up several times recently.

Several movies and shows recently touched on the subject:

"Lucky", with Drew Barrymore, Eric Bana, and Robert Duvall, revolves around poker playing, including "tells", both at the poker table, and in life.

"Next", with Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel, stars Cage as a Las Vegas magician of sorts, who makes some side money playing poker using some special abilities.

"2 1/2 Men", with Charlie Sheen, recently had an episode that referred specifically to poker tells, when Charlie was playing cards with his nephew.

About the same time I saw the above, one of ROI's recruiters and I got into a discussion about 'tells' on the part of candidates.

One of the most critical dynamics in recruiting is the give-and-take of information sharing between recruiters and their network. Trying to recruit without trying to sincerely help candidates, doesn't work very well. Likewise, candidates that want you to find them a new job, without helping you, don't provide a lot of motivation to the recruiter.

However, the sharing of information takes at least a little time to develop. I give a little, you give a little, I give a little more, you give a little more.

We've discovered that as long as we, as recruiters, are being reasonably generous with our time, and sharing, that we frequently get a pretty accurate and consistent 'tell' on the quality of the candidate based on how they respond.

Candidates who are a bit insecure, have had sort of average, or bounce around type of careers, or are more junior level, frequently don't want to share information on their contacts and friends. They give the perception of either mistrust, or fear that one of their contacts might win out over them for either a position we are discussing, or some future position, so they don't want to increase their competition.

High caliber candidates, on the other hand, typically have the attitude that there are plenty of jobs out there, the right one will come to me, and I want to help my friends and contacts so they'll help me. If someone I know is a better fit for a position than I am, then they should get it. They are more discerning about positions they go after, are quicker to disqualify themselves when it doesn't seem to be a fit, and frequently volunteer other contacts without even being asked.

Is the Career Becoming more like a Business?

2008-02-12T05:01:00.000-08:00

From Linked In:

Seems to me the obvious answer is yes.

If you look at human history, for all except the last few hundred years, and the last century primarily, most people were responsible for their own income, welfare, health maintenance etc.

It is only recently 'we' (most) started looking at corporations, government, etc for taking care of all of our needs. For a few decades in the US after WWII, people were able to look at lifetime careers in corporations, but personally I think that was the anomaly period. We need to devote more attention in our education system to preparing people to manage their lives and have the ability to create and produce, rather than just check off a bunch of coursework in college, and come out waiting for someone to hand them the rest of their life.

Recession? Where?

2008-01-27T05:02:00.000-08:00

Business is really booming at the moment, but if you listen to the media, doom and gloom is everywhere. There are certainly pockets, the stock market, the real estate market, mortgages (I guess that's a good size chunk isn't it?), but the tech sector seems to me to be still motoring along.

I am getting occasional comments recently from tech people that things are "slow". Seems they aren't feeling the love from recruiters and hiring firms like they have been the last couple years.

ROI currently has more openings than ever, so it almost seems like a bit of a disconnect.

It's funny; people have a love/hate relationship with the recruiting industry sometimes - they want to be called and sought after, but can get annoyed sometimes, and particularly by the wrong recruiters.

On the other hand, when things slow down, they start to wonder why the calls aren't coming in any more.

I get questions from people sometimes about how things are going, what I see happening in the industry as a whole. I pick up a lot of intel talking to people, but I always caveat my responses this way: ROI is small. Our piece of the universe is not that large, and what we see may or may not be representative of the whole. Recruiting is like real estate, where they say "all real estate markets are local"; recruiting tends to be ""local"" in the sense that a particular firm or recruiter's business (which may not be geographically focused) will represent just a small slice of what's going on.

It's not unusual at all for two more or less similar firms in a region to be seeing different results, or even 2 comparable recruiters in the same firm.

Things haven't tanked yet, but there are some signs around.

Going Global

2008-01-24T04:39:00.000-08:00

The world is such today that going global no longer has to even be part of an organization's strategic plan, it can, and will happen without even trying.

I get approached every month by international contacts seeking to form relationships and do business. Numerous RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) companies, mainly from India, have sought out ROI.

I've communicated with numerous overseas candidates, vendors and recruiters. Now ROI has it's first non-US client. Today we held our first in person interview overseas, between a client and candidate based in Canada, both of whom happened to be in London at the time.

Where are you looking for your next business opportunity?

Why ROI?

2007-12-21T04:48:00.000-08:00

Definitions of ROI:

1 Return on Investment: A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments using the ratio of the gain or loss on an investment relative to the amount invested.
2: King (French)
3: One of our dogs, an Australian dingo

Le Roi, Leroi, or more commonly Leroy, a common name, comes from "Le Roi", "The King".

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Recruiter?

2007-12-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

Do you like working independently?
You will spend most of your time talking with others on the phone, emails, research, developing and maintaining a contact network.

Do you have a lot of self discipline?
You need to be able to devote adequate attention to the various aspects of recruiting – research, finding search orders, finding candidates, screening, following up, negotiating, maintaining your contact database, etc. You cannot focus on certain aspects and neglect others and expect to be successful. Not everyone is equally strong in all areas, but if you are particularly weak in any of them, it will probably impact your success.

Do you have what it takes to overcome adversity and frustration?
Like any sales position, there will be disappointments, busted deals, and things that seem out of your control that impact your success. The fact of the matter is that you can control more than you think, by developing the ability to identify issues early on and avoid them. We can teach you how, but you have to take control and learn. Most people that try recruiting give up after a few months. I would say 75-80% in my experience, 10% achieve some level of success. 5% considerable success, and 1 or 2% spectacular levels, meaning $250K - $1M annually.

Does your financial situation and time horizon make sense?
Depending on variety of factors, it will take time to ramp up. Depending upon your finances, income expectations, age and other factors, are you prepared to commit to this field long enough to make it pay off? If you are used to making $200K annually in your present career, you can achieve that as a recruiter also, however, it may take 2 or 3 or 4 years to get there.

Do you have expertise in a particular industry or function (IT, Finance, Sales, etc) that you can leverage and is that area a good market for recruiting services currently, OR, is there an area which you can and would be motivated to learn that is a good market for recruiting?

Do you have good computer skills, internet skills, google searching, etc?
This isn’t an absolute requirement, but is increasingly helpful in today’s world. There are still recruiters out there who do it all ‘the old fashioned way’ through word of mouth referrals, etc. And frankly, that is still the best way. However, the more tools you have in your toolkit, the more successful you can be, and internet research, and the ability to maintain a database, copy and paste contact info, upload and download documents etc is a part of the job. The more adept you are at these skills, the more useful they are, and the less time consuming.

Copyright 2007 ROI Recruiting